iPhone 4S specs suggest Bluetooth 4.0 could combat NFC

One thing which Apple’s Tim Cook didn’t talk about in detail at last week’s Let’s talk iPhone event is the capabilities which Bluetooth 4.0 will bring to the iPhone 4S – today we will attempt to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding the new communication technology standard and see if Apple has made the right choice in snubbing NFC.

So far this year we have seen smartphone manufacturers such as Nokia, Samsung and Research in Motion bring NFC to their devices as it enables quick, easy and secure communication between two devices, so why has Apple opted to overlook this technology?

We don’t truly know the reason why this choice was made by Apple, but we wonder whether NFC chips are currently quite demanding in terms of battery life, which is something which can’t be said for Bluetooth 4.0 chips.

If you head over to Cnet you can read an article titled: Bluetooth 4.0: What is it, and does it matter?, it’s an interesting read and tells us quite a lot about this latest Bluetooth standard, what’s interesting is the fact that Nicole Lee suggests that BT4 could be possibly used for a wireless payment system, which could be very bad news for NFC.

Bluetooth 4.0’s biggest claim to fame is its low-power consumption, this allows the smallest battery-operated devices to utilize this technology and in terms of performance we are told that 24 Mbit/s speeds could be achievable, also there’s potential for a range of up to 200 feet. One thing which is worth knowing is the fact that Bluetooth 4.0 is compatible with previous Bluetooth standards, this means your old Bluetooth devices / peripherals will be supported.

As previously mentioned the low-power consumption is the most-exciting feature, could it mean that we could leave Bluetooth turned on without worrying about battery life? Do you think Apple should have given the iPhone 4S NFC? We would love to see your opinionated answer to these questions in the comments section below.